Hi all, I have been having persistent hip pain in roughly the circled spot for a few months now. I want to do something about it before it gets worse but I don’t know how. It feels very tight and unpleasant when stretching and I also get pins and needles very quickly when sitting on my sit bones or a hard chair.
Another clue to the location of the discomfort: the stretch that feels best is sitting crisscross with my right foot on bottom and leaning away from my hip with my leg grounded to the floor.
I can feel my body compensating and stiffness is slowly starting to travel up my lower back.
Pins and needles implies an issue with the lateral femoral nerve, which passes along the anterior hip. Tight muscles that attach to the ilium/iliac crest can press on the nerve, causing pins and needles.
Pins and needles can be caused by impeded blood supply (lack of oxygen) or pressure on a nerve. You can differentiate by how fast it occurs/dissipates. Nerve impingement numbness is fast, blood supply is slow.
The circled area is around the greater trochanter, the IT band/TFL (tensor-fascia-latae) act as a band across there, with a bursa underneath. Tight IT band/TFL muscle cause all sorts of issues around there. Is your IT band tight, sensitive, or feel grainy/washboard texture when you slide your fingers down it?
Try rolling the IT band on a foam roller - the level of discomfort is a good indicator of tightness of the band/tfl. (Foam rolling is probably the top technique for dealing with IT band tightness).
Also, Glute Medius and Minimus are right there, often problematic because of sitting, and most exercise they don’t engage much because squats use heavy weight. Exercises like the Monster Walk (exercise band round ankles, side-stepping), engages the smaller muscles.
Take a look at the apps 3D Human, and 3D Bones and Organs. They’re on both iOS and Android, both free.
^This sounds reasonable.
It’s a stretch but a bone spur on the hip or perhaps a disc issue (hernia/pinching, etc)
Regardless, the kind of issue I’d see a medical professional for and rather quickly. Depending on insurance, there may be a lot of hoops to go through and that could mean prolonging the issue/pain.
Yes, get checked by a pro
Take a look at the apps 3D Human, and 3D Bones and Organs. They’re on both iOS and Android, both free.
aaaaaahhhhhhhh this is a WONDERFUL recommendation, thank you so much!!
My husband has been struggling with a back injury since early March, and trying to find good anatomical diagrams to help him understand what he’s feeling where is often a challenge. This will be so helpful!!
Roughly how old are you? What sort of exercise do you do?
Does the pain lessen if you stop your usual exercise routine for a week?
Do you have access to a physical therapist through whatever insurance you’re on? Also check if nearby ones take cash. PTs are usually good for a basic diagnosis. They’ll also give you a bunch of small exercises to do but cynically I think the main function of PTs is to convince you to stay away from the thing that is continually re-injuring you long enough for you to heal.
PTs are usually good for a basic diagnosis.
This depends on what state you’re in, unfortunately. Here in Ohio, they legally can’t see you without a referral from a diagnosing physician. They also can’t help you work on anything outside the scope of that diagnosis, so if your doctor half-assed your exam, you might not get the help you need.
My husband is dealing with this right now.
Wow, that fucking sucks.
it super does! switching to another practice is going to take weeks, during which he is suffering and making little progress
America has the best healthcare system in the world, and that’s why we pay so fucking much for it
I’m in my mid 20s. I mostly bike and do yoga and am typically on my feet for most of the day for work. It started in June when I had some training for work where I was sitting for most of the day in bad seating for several weeks.
Sounds like nerve stuff.
If its from tissues around the nerves, ice packs can help reduce the swelling temporarily.
If its from something like a a bulging disk or compressed vertebrae or something, changing posture and trying to build up muscles to compensate can be helpful.
A rolled up bath towel under your butt and maybe another in the small of your back when sitting for long periods. Change the height of your chair or put something under your feet to change the angle of your thighs from what it normally is.
Did anything happen before it started? Did you overexert or fall or otherwise injure yourself?
I’ve learned enough from going to my husband’s back appointments that the tingly pins-and-needles thing indicates some kind of nerve involvement, but it might just be getting squished by swollen tissues caused by other irritation (that happens to him every now and then). You probably should get it checked out. 😕
Really hard to tell based on the info provided. But, if the pain is unilateral and the tightness is working it’s way up to the sacrum and lumbar region, it could be because of a lateral pelvic tilt.
Limb length discrepancies are one of the most common reasons for lower back and hip pain.
Do you have any numbness or weakness distal to the area? It immediately sounds like sciatic nerve issues. That is fairly common. If this wasn’t a post in fitness specifically I would ask bout your shoes, driving, wallet placement stuff like that.
Could be your piriformis muscle. The stretch is a big clue to that, although I’m not sure about the pins and needles.
I had pain in that area and was sure it was the joint, that I’d need surgery, etc. Went to physical therapy and they figured it out almost immediately by massaging. You could try the same if you can’t get physical therapy for whatever reason.
Imagine a letter C just to the left of the green circle in your picture, just behind where your hip protrudes out. Rub that by hand, or with a tennis ball between that area and a wall. If you feel some instant relief from that it’s probably your piriformis. From there you can do some exercises and stretches to strengthen it over time, reply and I can send you a website with them.
